This year has been a challenging one for the world, starting off with the horrific shootings in Paris at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly magazine, and ending with the terrorist attacks in Paris in November. Peace continues to elude many regions in North Africa and the Middle East, as civil war and the rise of ISIS has seen thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced, fleeing their war-torn countries.
Economic growth has been lacklustre, especially in developing economies such as South Africa where we narrowly missed moving into a recession in the third quarter of this year.
Unfortunately, events over the last few weeks has led to further rand weakness which will negatively impact both interest rates and future growth prospects. Lower growth and higher interest rates will take their toll on South African consumers, and it becomes increasingly important for us to deliver on our promise of providing protection when you need it most: in insuring your life and health, helping you invest for your children’s future and ensuring a financially secure retirement, among other things.
As we bid the year good bye, we have a great deal to be proud of at Liberty, including being voted the number one investment product provider in the country by industry peers in the long- and short-term industry: Insurance Industry survey 2014, PWC as well as being consistently ranked first by sum assured in the annual Swiss Re Individual Risk Market New Business Volumes Survey.
Here are some of the highlights of 2015:
- We were proud to have paid out over R3 billion in valid claims – the highest to date. In 2006 we were the first insurer to publish our claims statistics and over the last nine years we have paid out more than R20 billion in valid claims.
- Evolve, the investment product range we launched in 2012 which only charges fees once the investor has received an investment return, hit the R20 billion mark in new business. This is a remarkable success for a product that was only launched three years ago.
- This year we launched the Agile Retirement Range, the first retirement savings product in South Africa which guarantees a retirement income, no matter how the markets perform.
- We also introduced the Term Cover and PayOut option to our Lifestyle Protector offering. It matches your insurance cover to your needs by allowing you to take out insurance for specific events and time periods, thereby reducing premiums.
Although there have been changes in management, there is a strong management team in place which is led by the Chief Executive of the Retail business, John Maxwell. The team is ensuring that Liberty continues to refine the way we do business, because we want to be closer to you, our customer. We have enjoyed engaging with you and appreciate your feedback which allows us to improve our communication.
Wishing you a safe and relaxing festive season and a prosperous new year.
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